Over the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to watch an incredibly interesting documentary on Monsanto, maker of the popular herbicide RoundUp as well as the genetically-modified seeds currently being used everywhere in North America to produce crops which are, supposedly, engineered to be resistant to weeds and insects. The documentary in question, called The World according to Monsanto paints a very negative picture of the company, claiming that the multinational corporation is busily trying to create a worldwide seed monopoly, is more or less driving producers and growers of natural seeds into bankruptcy through questionable business practices as well as killing consumers of its supposedly healthy products (genetically-modified foods have been linked to sterility as well as cancer).
To say the least, the documentary leads us to believe that the future of food production is a very bleak one not because food will be more expensive or less plentiful but because its general consumption will lead to a variety of diseases, defects and health issues. In addition to that, the use or continued use of genetically-modified seeds impoverishes the producers themselves in that once a monopoly is established in a given market, the seeds themselves become more expensive, as do the products necessary to ensure their growth (fertilizer and herbicide). Essentially, no good can come of organisms that Monsanto has had any influence over.
More can be said but it would be a disservice to a reader for me to summarize the information that is so well presented in the documentary.